argerbright



(Modem S. A. ARGERBRIGHT.

FASTENING DEVICE FOR GOPFINS.

- N0. 320,834. Patented June 23, 1885'.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIOE.

SOLOMON A. ARGERBRIGIIT, OF DECATUR, INDIANA.

FASTENING DEVICE FOR COFFINS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,834, dated June 23, 1885.

I Application filed March 25, 1885. (Model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SOLOMON A. ARGER- BRIGHT, of Decatur, in the county of Adams and State of Indiana, have invented a new and Improved Fastening for Coffin-Lids, 850., of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a new and improved fastening designed more especially for use on coffins and caskets for fastening the lids or covers to the bodies thereof; and the invention consists, principally, of a dovetailed clutch of peculiar construction adapted to be placed in a recess made in the edge of the coffin to receive the head of a screw in the lid or cover. The invention also consists of a coffin or casket having several of such catches let into its edges, combined with a cover or lid having several screws and a spring-catch for locking the cover in place upon the coffin, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is an inverted plan view of the coffin-lid. Fig. 2 is a 'plan view of a coffin with the lid removed. Fig. 3 is a lateral sectional elevation of a part of the coffin and lid,'the latter beinglocked in place, the sections being taken on the line a: m in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of one of the dovetailed catches removed, and showing the screw for holding it in place; and Fig. 5 shows a modified form of the dovetailed catch.

A represents the cover or lid of a coifin provided with knobs or screws a and with the spring-catch I) at one end, and B represents a coffin which has the oblong recesses 0 formed at its upper edge to correspond with the screws a.

In one end of each of the recesses c is fitted a cylindrical metal catch, 0, formed with a transverse dovetailed opening d, to receive the heads of the screws 0., the inwardly-projecting flanges c 6 serving to engage with and hold the head of the screw, as shown clearly in Fig. 3. The catches 0 may each be formed with screw threads f, as shown in Fig. 5, adapting them to be screwed into a recess at the edge of the coffin; or they may be formed with an opening, g, at the bottom, Fig. 3, for the passage of a common screw, h, for attaching the catch in place for use. In practice the catches G will be made of malleable cast-iron.

In use, to place the cover upgn the eoffin it is only necessary to enter the screw-heads a into the recesses c and shove the lid toward the foot of the coffin until the spring-latch 7) drops over the foot of the coffin, as shown in Fig. 3. The screws a, entering the recesses d, serve to holdf-ihe lid securelyin place. To re move the lid, the spring-latch I) must be lifted and the lid shoved toward the head of the cot fin to move the heads at out of the recesses d of the catches G.

The catches O and heads a may be reversed in the lid and body of the casket or receptacle. if desired, and the catches C may be made of any metal and of any desired length and thickness, and the springs b may be placed at either end of the lid, and the oblong recesses d are made sufficiently large, so that the knobs a may drop in easily, so that if the side of the casket should be slightly sprung or warped the lid will bring it to its place when it is shoved endwise.

I am aware that a fastening for burial-caskets consisting of headed studs on the lid and tubular sockets having their upper ends bev' eled and provided with rectangular slots in inclined recesses in the casket is old, and I there fore do not claim such invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As an improved article of manufacture, the screw-catch 0, adapted for vertical insertion in the upper edge of a box or coilin, having the transverse opening (7 contracted at its upper side and forming flanges c, as set forth.

2. The combination of the coffin B, provided with the oblong recesses c, the screw-catch 0, having the transverse dovetail recess (I seen red in the recesses c, and the lid A, provided with the screws a, substantially as herein shown and described.

SOLOMON A. ARGERBRIGI'IT.

\Vitnesses:

ETHAN A. KUFFMAN, ROBERT S. PE'rEnsoN. 

